One-step low-temperature process for crude oil refining

Abstract

The present application provides a one-step refining process of a hydrocarbon feedstock, said process comprising heating said hydrocarbon feedstock with one or more fatty acids or mixtures thereof, at a temperature below 350 C., to obtain a light hydrocarbon product, wherein said light hydrocarbon product obtained in said process contains no heavy hydrocarbons products.

Claims

1. A one-step combined process for preparing a light hydrocarbon product from a non-fractionated or fractionated hydrocarbon feedstock, wherein said process combines refining, isomerisation and cracking of said non-fractionated or fractionated hydrocarbon feedstock in one step, characterised in that: (a) said one step comprises heating said hydrocarbon feedstock in a reaction vessel with a reactant-catalyst at a vapour temperature below 360 C. to obtain said light hydrocarbon product, (b) said light hydrocarbon product is obtained in said process with a total yield of at least 60% and contains no heavy hydrocarbon products, (c) said process is accompanied by formation of aromatic hydrocarbons, (d) said reactant-catalyst is either a liquid mixture of stearic acid dissolved in ether-aldehyde fraction of ethanol and mixed with technical grade oleic acid, or a solid residue which remains in the reaction vessel after completion of said process, said solid residue activated with the ether-aldehyde fraction of ethanol, wherein said ether-aldehyde fraction of ethanol contains 94-98% of ethanol and 2-6% of ethers, aldehydes, acetone, diacetyl, methanol, nitrates and sulphates.

2. The process of claim 1, wherein said hydrocarbon feedstock is selected from natural gas condensate, crude oil (petroleum), atmospheric or vacuum residues of refinery feedstocks, solvent deasphalted oils derived from said crude oil and said atmospheric or vacuum residues of refinery feedstocks, shale oil, oil sands, waste lubricating oils, oil sludge and other oil wastes, or mixtures thereof.

3. The process of claim 1, wherein said light hydrocarbon product contains light petroleum gases, naphtha, gasoline (petrol) for motor and turbine fuels, kerosene, diesel fuel (fuel oil) and light crude oil.

4. The process of claim 1, wherein said heavy hydrocarbon products, which are not obtained in said process, are the hydrocarbons containing 25 carbon atoms or more.

5. The process of claim 1, wherein said hydrocarbon feedstock is continuously fed into the reaction vessel together with said reactant-catalyst.

6. The process of claim 1, wherein said obtained light hydrocarbon products are continuously distilled from the reaction vessel and further collected in a product storage tank.

7. The process of claim 1, wherein said obtained light hydrocarbon products are fractionally distilled from the reaction vessel, and further collected in a product storage tank.

8. The process of claim 1, wherein said hydrocarbon feedstock is pre-treated prior to feeding it into the reaction vessel to remove water, water-soluble salts and suspended solids from said hydrocarbon feedstock.

9. The process of claim 8, wherein said hydrocarbon feedstock is initially streamed into an oil-water separator for separating gross amounts of oils from a wastewater and suspended solids found in the wastewater effluents of refineries and various plants or in the waste lubricating oils, oil sludge and other oil wastes.

10. The process of claim 1, wherein said hydrocarbon feedstock is diluted before the said process with a portion of the light hydrocarbon product for obtaining the hydrocarbon feedstock having the density lower than 0.82-0.84 g/cm.sup.3.

11. The process of claim 10, wherein said dilution is carried out continuously during said process or during transportation of the hydrocarbon feedstock.

12. The process of claim 10, wherein said portion of the light hydrocarbon product used for dilution of the hydrocarbon feedstock is taken from a light naphtha fraction having boiling range between 40 C. to 105 C.

13. The process of claim 1, wherein said heating of said hydrocarbon feedstock in the reaction vessel is carried out under atmospheric pressure.

14. The process of claim 1, wherein said heating of said hydrocarbon feedstock in the reaction vessel is carried out under elevated pressure or in vacuum.

15. The process of claim 1, wherein said process is continuous or semi-continuous.

16. The process of claim 1, wherein the total yield of the light hydrocarbon product is at least 80%.

17. The process of claim 1, wherein said reactant catalyst is capable of forming in-situ a complex with metals or metal ions inherently present in said non-fractionated or fractionated hydrocarbon feedstock, thereby catalysing said process.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(1) In the following description, various aspects of the present application will be described. For purposes of explanation, specific configurations and details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present application. However, it will also be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present application may be practiced without the specific details presented herein. Furthermore, well-known features may be omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the present application.

(2) The term comprising, used in the claims, should not be interpreted as being restricted to the components and steps listed thereafter; it does not exclude other components or steps. It needs to be interpreted as specifying the presence of the stated features, integers, steps or components as referred to, but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps or components, or groups thereof. Thus, the scope of the expression a process comprising x and z should not be limited to processes including only steps x and z.

(3) The present application describes embodiments of a one-step combination process comprising refining, catalytic cracking and isomerisation of a fractionated or non-fractionated hydrocarbon feedstock, said combination process comprising heating said hydrocarbon feedstock with one or more fatty acids or mixtures thereof, at a vapour temperature below 360 C., to obtain a light hydrocarbon product, wherein said light hydrocarbon product obtained in said process contains no heavy hydrocarbon products, and wherein said process is accompanied by formation of aromatic hydrocarbons. As mentioned above, the refining comprises the fractional distillation. The above term light hydrocarbon product contains no heavy hydrocarbon products means that although the heavy hydrocarbon products are initially present in the hydrocarbon feedstock and possibly not completely reacted and converted into the light hydrocarbon product, the final light hydrocarbon product distilled from the reaction vessel does not contain any of them. Nonetheless, small amounts of the liquid hydrocarbon products may remain at the bottom of the reaction vessel. These small amounts (not more than 10% of the hydrocarbon feedstock) can be separated from solid residues, brought back to the same or other reaction vessel and then converted to the light hydrocarbon products by the same process, while heating the liquid residue at the bottom of the reaction vessel. Such recycling allows significantly increasing the reaction yield of the process, which is strongly dependent on the initial content of asphaltenes in the reaction mixture.

(4) In one embodiment, the hydrocarbon feedstock comprises crude oil, refinery feedstocks, waste lubricating oils, oil sludge and other oil wastes or mixtures thereof. The hydrocarbon feedstock is defined herein as any hydrocarbon feedstock, not separated in fractions, and used in refinery operations, comprising natural gas condensate, crude oil (petroleum), atmospheric or vacuum residues or refinery feedstocks, solvent deasphalted oils, which are derived from these crude petroleum oil and residues, shale oil, oil sands, waste lubricating oils, oil sludge and any other oil wastes. The hydrocarbon feedstock may also be pre-treated with one or more processing chemicals including solvents, demulsifiers, corrosion inhibitors, and the like.

(5) The light hydrocarbon product of an embodiment is defined herein as light petroleum gases, naphtha, gasoline for motor and turbine fuels, kerosene, diesel and light crude oil, or mixtures thereof. These are the only light hydrocarbons formed in the process of an embodiment. The heavy hydrocarbon products having 25 carbon atoms or more are either not formed in the process of an embodiment or formed in very small amounts that can be neglected. It has been surprisingly found that heating of the hydrocarbon feedstock with the fatty acids results in: 1) Isomerisation of all hydrocarbon molecules starting from hexane up to heavy hydrocarbon molecules, and 2) Efficient cracking of heavy hydrocarbon molecules to form light hydrocarbon molecules.
This process was found to be accompanied by formation of aromatic hydrocarbons.

(6) As the cracking reaction proceeds, the formed light hydrocarbon product is continuously distilled from the reaction vessel, with or without fractionation, and further collected in the product storage tank. The low-temperature cracking is defined herein as a continuous or semi-continuous cracking process, which is carried out at a vapour temperature below 360 C., under atmospheric pressure, elevated pressure or even in vacuum, converting the high-boiling, high-molecular weight hydrocarbon fractions of the hydrocarbon feedstock into much lighter diesel oil, kerosene, gasoline, naphtha and petrol products. The most important features of the process of the present application are that no heavy hydrocarbon products are formed and aromatic hydrocarbons are spontaneously formed during the process.

(7) The process of an embodiment is a true one-step continuous process carried out in a single reaction step. The hydrocarbon feedstock is continuously fed into the reaction vessel together with one or more fatty acids, or mixtures thereof. In a particular embodiment, the fatty acid is selected from stearic acid, oleic acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid, palmitoleic acid, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, arachidic acid, gadoleic acid, erucic acid or mixtures thereof. Use of the fatty acids allows efficiently cracking the hydrocarbon feedstock at a vapour temperature below 360 C. in a non-separated hydrocarbon feedstock. Therefore, the reaction vessel does not need to be heated above 400 C., which makes the whole process economically much more viable than the existing crude oil refining processes, not to mention again that the process is carried out in one-step, and only light hydrocarbon products are obtained.

(8) Mechanism behind the isomerisation and cracking reaction of the supplied hydrocarbon feedstock in the presence of fatty acids remains unknown. However, we can speculate that the fatty acids are capable of complexing metals, which they extract from the raw hydrocarbon feedstock. Crude oil generally contains metals such as vanadium, nickel and iron. Such metals normally tend to concentrate in the heavier fractions such as mazut, bitumen and tar. The presence of the metals however makes the processing of these heavier fractions extremely difficult. Being highly hydrophobic, the fatty acids are capable of rapidly penetrating in the oily bulk of the hydrocarbon feedstock fed to the reaction vessel, thereby forming complexes with the metals within said bulk. Once the fatty acids form the complexes with the metals, they become supposedly capable of making the cracking reaction much easier to proceed (by lowering the temperature of the reaction), without any chemical catalyst or additive. Therefore, the fatty acids or mixtures thereof can be defined herein as a reactant-catalyst. Indeed, this is a surprising finding that the fatty acids or mixtures thereof are capable of reacting and catalysing the process of the embodiments.

(9) In a certain embodiment, the hydrocarbon feedstock should be pre-treated prior to feeding it into the reaction vessel. This is done in order to remove water, water-soluble salts and suspended solids from the hydrocarbon feedstock prior to refining. Quality requirements to pre-treating of the raw hydrocarbon feedstock is the same as in any industrial refinery, i.e. water content should not exceed 0.5% and the feedstock streamed in the reaction vessel must be free of any suspended solids and water-soluble salts.

(10) In some embodiments, the raw hydrocarbon feedstock received at the refinery may be initially diluted (prior to its pre-treatment) in order to obtain the hydrocarbon feedstock solution having the density lower than 0.82-0.84 g/cm.sup.3. This raw hydrocarbon feedstock is diluted with a portion of the light hydrocarbon product obtained in the process of an embodiment.

(11) In a specific embodiment, the light hydrocarbon products used for dilution of the raw hydrocarbon feedstock are taken from the light naphtha fraction, which is the fraction boiling between 40 C. to 105 C. and consisting mainly of pentane, hexane and heptane molecules. The light naphtha fraction can be used for dilution of waste lubricating oils, oil sludge and any other oil wastes in the process of the embodiments in order to increase the yield of gasoline. Dilution can be carried out at all stages of processing the hydrocarbon feedstock and its transportation, may facilitate the separation of the crude oil from the suspended solids and water, and may reduce energy costs for heating during transportation. This is in contrast to the present situation in the crude oil industry, when only heavy fractions are diluted with light fractions, and the heavy fractions should be heated during transportation to prevent their solidification.

(12) If the light hydrocarbon product used for dilution of the raw hydrocarbon feedstock is taken from the aforementioned light naphtha fraction, the entire dilution process is not recycled. Otherwise, the portion of the light hydrocarbon product used for dilution is constantly recycled from the product storage tank to said oil-water separator. In a particular embodiment, part of the obtained light hydrocarbon product, which does not constitute a light naphtha fraction (pentanes, hexanes or heptanes), is streamed back into the oil-water separator to dilute the raw hydrocarbon feedstock prior to feeding it into the reaction vessel. There is a constant amount of the light hydrocarbon product separated after distillation from the total amount of the distilled light hydrocarbon product. It is then piped back into the oil-water separator for dilution of a new portion of the hydrocarbon feedstock. This constant amount of the distilled light hydrocarbon product is actually circulating between the product storage tank and the oil-water separator.

(13) The process of an embodiment for obtaining the light hydrocarbon product should be carried out at the reaction conditions close to adiabatic. This is done to ensure that the reaction mixture is heated with the heat released from the exothermic reaction taken place in the reaction vessel. For this reason, the rate of the reaction should be equal or higher than the rate of vaporisation of the formed light hydrocarbons and their isomers. Since this is a one-step process, the light hydrocarbon product is formed in the reaction vessel and immediately distilled from the reaction vessel while the reaction continues to proceed. As noted above, the formation of the aromatic hydrocarbons during the reaction accompanies the process of the present invention.

(14) As any other industrial refining process, the process of an embodiment can be either atmospheric, carried out in vacuum or under elevated pressure, with or without fractionation. The light hydrocarbon product obtained in a high yield (more than 75%) can be further streamed into a fractional distillation column to separate it into consumer products, such as light petroleum gases, naphtha, gasoline, kerosene and diesel fuel, or streamed into other industrial processes. As mentioned above, the distilled light hydrocarbon product is free of any heavy hydrocarbons and constitutes the sole product of the process of an embodiment. Its fractionation proceeds easily and fast, and the energy cost is clearly lower for a one-step refining process than for the multistep refining processes currently used in the industry. Moreover, as mentioned above, the process of an embodiment further comprises recycling of at least a portion of said obtained hydrocarbon product stream to said oil-water separator for dilution purposes.

EXAMPLES

(15) Preparation of the Liquid Mixture of Fatty Acids

(16) 1.2 g stearic acid is dissolved in 25 ml ether-aldehyde fraction of ethanol, which is a mixture of ethanol with concentration of 94-98% and 2-6% of ethers, aldehydes, diacetyl, methanol, nitrates and sulphates. The obtained solution is mixed with 50 ml technical grade oleic acid to obtain clear solution of the liquid mixture. The technical grade oleic acid contains the following fatty acids (in w/w %):

(17) TABLE-US-00001 C.sub.14H.sub.28O.sub.2 Myristic acid 0.2-0.5% C.sub.16H.sub.32O.sub.2 Palmitic acid 4.0-6.5% C.sub.16H.sub.30O.sub.2 Palmitoleic acid 0.2-0.5% C.sub.18H.sub.36O.sub.2 Stearic acid 1.0-3.5% C.sub.18H.sub.34O.sub.2 Oleic acid 50.0-68.0% C.sub.18H.sub.32O.sub.2 Linoleic acid 17.0-20.0% C.sub.18H.sub.30O.sub.2 Linolenic acid 1.0-3.0% C.sub.20H.sub.40O.sub.2 Arachidic acid 0.3-0.7% C.sub.20H.sub.38O.sub.2 Gadoleic acid 1.5-3.5% C.sub.22H.sub.42O.sub.2 Erucic acid 4.5-14.0%

(18) The obtained liquid mixture of the fatty acids can be introduced in any type of the hydrocarbon feedstock including lubricant oils, heavy oil fractions, residues, bitumen or tar. These fractions can be diluted, washed and desalted at the ambient temperature prior to the reaction.

(19) Preparation of the Solid Mixture of Fatty Acids Complexed with Metals

(20) The above prepared liquid mixture of fatty acids is added to the hydrocarbon feedstock to obtain about 0.5-1.0% w/w mixture, followed by the low-temperature cracking reaction until only solid product with a small amount of heavy unevaporated hydrocarbons and other impurities is left in the reaction vessel. This solid product is washed with gasoline and kerosene to remove the heavy unevaporated hydrocarbons and other impurities. The obtained solid product is milled, blended, again washed and activated with the ether-aldehyde fraction of ethanol. The obtained dried product is a solid mixture of fatty acids complexed with metals. It may be introduced directly into the liquid solution subjected to the cracking or placed in the distillation column to contact with the distilled liquid phase.

(21) Preparation of the Hydrocarbon Feedstock for Low-Temperature Process

(22) Hydrocarbon feedstock received at refinery is usually already pre-treated by removing suspended solids and containing less than 0.5% w/w water.

(23) However, lubricant oil wastes, heavy crude oil, oil sludge and mazut require special pre-treatment. Lubricant oil wastes are diluted with the light hydrocarbon product of an embodiment of the present application to obtain a lubricating oil solution having the density in the range of 0.82-0.84 g/cm.sup.3. The obtained solution is filtered and left overnight in an oil-water separator to separate oil and aqueous phases. The separated oil also containing less than 0.5% w/w water is transferred from the separator into said reaction vessel.

(24) Heavy crude oil, oil sludge and mazut are mixed to obtain slurry, followed by dilution of said slurry with the light hydrocarbon product of an embodiment to obtain the density of said diluted slurry in the range of 0.82-0.84 g/cm.sup.3. The diluted slurry is filtered and left overnight in an oil-water separator, in order to sediment suspended solids and to separate oil and aqueous phases. The separated oil phase containing less than 0.5% w/w water is transferred from the separator into said reaction vessel.

(25) The reason for the above pre-treatment of the hydrocarbon feedstock is actually a removal of water, which must not exceed 0.5% w/w in total in the reaction mixture. The same problem persists with unfiltered solid particles or suspended solids, which should be removed prior to initiating the cracking process.

(26) Low-Temperature Process with the Liquid Mixture of Fatty Acids

(27) In a 250-ml Beaker glass, 100 ml of the hydrocarbon feedstock are added, followed by addition of approximately 0.5-1.0% liquid mixture of fatty acids by volume. This solution is transferred into 250-ml Wrtz flask equipped with a Liebig condenser and a thermometer. A graduated cylinder is placed at the end of the Liebig condenser to collect the distilled liquid. The Wrtz flask containing the feedstock solution with the fatty acids is gently heated using an oil bath until the first drop of the condensed liquid appears in the graduated cylinder. When the condensed liquid stops dropping into the graduated cylinder, the heating is increased, thereby increasing the boiling temperature of the liquid in the Wrtz flask. This cycle is repeated several times. The process is slowed down when the reaction yield of the light hydrocarbon product reaches 78-82%.

(28) When almost all the liquid (93-95%) is distilled from the Wrtz flask to a graduated cylinder, the process is stopped. The condensed liquid in the graduated cylinder constitutes the light hydrocarbon product of the cracking reaction. The reaction yield is calculated based on the measured volume of this liquid. The table below shows the yield of the light hydrocarbon product at different boiling temperatures for the 1% fatty acid mixture:

(29) TABLE-US-00002 % C. 10 90 20 170 30 240 40 230 50 275 60 240 70 240 80 245 86 205
There was some bubbling in the flask between 40-45 C. with increasing the volume of the reaction mixture for 10-15%, but the actual boiling started at 55 C. The cracking process was stable and homogeneous between 48-77% of the distilled liquid and did not require any temperature regulation. The heating temperature was increased at 23%, 48% and 77% of the distilled liquid.
Low-Temperature Process with the Solid Mixture of Fatty Acids Complexed with Metals

(30) In a 250-ml Beaker glass, 100 ml of the hydrocarbon feedstock are added, followed by addition of 2-3 g of the solid mixture of fatty acids complexed with metals. Then the same procedure as for the liquid mixture of the fatty acids described above is followed, and the results obtained are the same.

(31) Laboratory ExperimentsDistillation with the Addition of a Reactant-Catalyst

(32) The results of the tests performed in the accredited testing laboratory West-Inos (Lvov, Ukraine) are presented below. Conditions of the different tests met the requirements of normative documents for testing and related laboratory equipment. Distillation of the submitted oil samples was carried out according to GOST 11011-85.

(33) Density of the sample crude oil at temperature 20 C. (GOST 3900) was measured to be 856.2 kg/m.sup.3, while density of the same crude oil at temperature 15 C. (GOST 31072) was measured to be 859.5 kg/m.sup.3.

(34) Weight of the crude oil sample was 2800 g. The amount of the reactant-catalyst introduced into the distillation cube was 33 ml (1% per crude oil volume). The reactant-catalyst and crude oil were not stirred. The results of the crude oil distillation with the reactant-catalyst are given in Table 1.

(35) TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 1 Weight of the selected Temperature C., % Weight per Batch fraction, g Cube Vapours crude oil Fraction 1 35.4* Up to 250 Up to 190 18.34 Gasoline 2 270.5 3 207.5 4 346.5 250-303 190-250 12.38 (30.72) Sample 1 (kerosene) 5 435.5 303-343 250-285 15.56 (46.28) Sample 2 (diesel) 6 506.0 345-363 285-305 18.07 (64.35) Sample 3 (diesel) 7 652.0 365-367 305-313 23.29 (87.64) Sample 4 (diesel) 8 34.2** 367 1.22 (88.86) 2487.6 *Fraction with a boiling point up to 48 C., included in the total yield of light fractions, but excluded from further testing. **Fraction in the beginning of thermal decomposition, included in the total yield of light fractions, but excluded from the composition of the tested diesel fuel.

(36) As seen in Table 1, the total yield of the light fractions was 88.86% and included the following light hydrocarbon products: gasoline (petrol)18.34% by weight, kerosene12.38% by weight, and diesel oil58.14% by weight. The residue in the distillation cube was 230 g (8.21% by weight) and the weight loss was only 82 g (2.93% by weight).

(37) After the distillation, one sample of gasoline, one sample of kerosene fractions and three samples of diesel fuel were obtained, for which the octane number (gasoline, kerosene) and cetane number (diesel fuel) were determined. The results are shown in Table 2.

(38) TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 2 Actual Control Physico-chemical parameter value method Cetane Sample 1 (kerosene) 52.0 Express number Sample 2 (diesel fuel) 46.6 method Sample 3 (diesel fuel) 42.7 Sample 4 (diesel fuel) 41.7 Detonation Research octane number (RON) 93.9 Express resistance Motor octane number (MON) 85.4 method (gasoline)

(39) Further, samples 2-4 (diesel fuel) were combined into one. This combined sample was further distilled to obtain two fractions: light diesel fuel fraction with the boiling point up to 300 C. (vapour temperature), further purification on silica gel, and heavy diesel fuel fraction with the boiling point higher than 300 C. (vapour temperature). These two fractions were sent to the testing. Purification on a silica gel of a sample of gasoline and kerosene was carried out in the West-Inos laboratory, as well.

(40) Four samples were obtained: gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel and oils. The results of their testing are given in Tables 3, 4, 5 and 6 below.

(41) TABLE-US-00005 TABLE 3 Gasoline (petrol) Actual Batch Physico-chemical parameter value 1 Density at temperature 15 C., kg/m.sup.3 749.2 GOST 31072 2 Fraction composition: GOST 2177 The beginning of boiling, C. 63 (Method A) 5% distilled away at temperature, C. 89 10% distilled away at temperature, C. 97 20% distilled away at temperature, C. 106 30% distilled away at temperature, C. 114 40% distilled away at temperature, C. 122 50% distilled away at temperature, C. 131 60% distilled away at temperature, C. 140 70% distilled away at temperature, C. 149 80% distilled away at temperature, C. 159 90% distilled away at temperature, C. 170 95% distilled away at temperature, C. 179 Up to 70 C. distilled away, % 1.0 Up to 100 C. distilled away, % 13.0 Up to 150 C. distilled away, % 71.0 End of boiling, C. 196 Residue in the flask, % 1.0 3 Detonation resistance: Express Research octane number (RON) 93.8 method Motor octane number (MON) 85.3 4 Sulphur content, weight % 0.0158 GSTU ISO 20847 5 Appearance: Transparent and light, light-yelow GSTU 7687 shade, without suspended solids and water par. 9.4 6 Volume fraction of aromatic 10.51 GOST 29040 hydrocarbons, % 7 Volume fraction of benzene, % 0.56 GSTU EN 12177 8 Weight fraction of oxygen, % 0.5 GSTU EN 13132 9 Volume fraction of oxygen-containing GSTU EN compounds, %: 13132 methanol <0.17 ethanol fuel 0.2 isopropanol 1.26 isobutanol 0 t-butanol 0 esters (C.sub.5 and higher) 0.1 other oxygen-containing compounds <0.17 with a boiling point not higher than 210 C.

(42) TABLE-US-00006 TABLE 5 Kerosene Actual Batch Physico-chemical parameter value 1 Detonation resistance: Express Research octane number (RON) 94.0 method Motor octane number (MON) 85.3

(43) TABLE-US-00007 TABLE 6 Diesel fuel Actual Batch Physico-chemical parameter value 1 Density at temperature 15 C., kg/m.sup.3 826.0 GOST 31072 2 Fraction composition: GOST 2177 The beginning of boiling, C. 106 (Method A) 5% distilled away at temperature, C. 156 10% distilled away at temperature, C. 194 20% distilled away at temperature, C. 236 30% distilled away at temperature, C. 260 40% distilled away at temperature, C. 275 50% distilled away at temperature, C. 286 60% distilled away at temperature, C. 298 70% distilled away at temperature, C. 308 80% distilled away at temperature, C. 318 90% distilled away at temperature, C. 344 Up to 250 C. distilled away, % 26.0 Up to 350 C. distilled away, % 91.0 95% distilled away at temperature, C. 360 End of boiling, C. 367 Residue in the flask, % 2.0 3 Flash point in a closed cup, C. 30 GOST 6356 4 Kinematic viscosity at 40 C., mm.sup.2/sec 2.69 GOST 33 5 Cold filter plugging point, C. 2 GSTU EN 116 6 Ash content, weight % 0.01 GOST 1461 7 Cetane number 47.7 Express method 8 Sulphur content, weight % 0.517 GSTU ISO 20847

(44) TABLE-US-00008 TABLE 7 Oil Actual Batch Physico-chemical parameter value 1 Kinematic viscosity at 40 C., mm.sup.2/sec 8.95 GOST 33 2 Kinematic viscosity at 100 C., mm.sup.2/sec 2.69 GOST 33 3 Pour point, C. 20 GOST 20287 4 Flash point in an open cup, C. 132 GOST 4333 5 Sulphur content, weight % 0.625 GSTU ISO 20847

(45) The following Table 8 shows the results for the distillation of the light naphtha fraction with respect to hexane and heptane. The experiment was performed as follows. In 120 ml of n-hexane, 1 ml of the reactant-catalyst was added, and the mixture was heated and distilled in a Wrtz flask. 110 ml of the distillate sample G were obtained.

(46) In a separate experiment, 120 ml of n-hexane and 1 ml of the reactant-catalyst were added to the pre-treated oil sludge. The pre-treatment included suspended solid and water removal (see the above protocol for the pre-treatment of oil sludge). In addition, light hydrocarbons (boiling point lower than 125 C.) were removed. The pre-treated oil sludge was distilled in a Wrtz flask. The obtained distillate sample is designated in Table 8 as G.Sys.

(47) In the third experiment, 120 ml of n-heptane and 1 ml of the reactant-catalyst were added to the oil sludge, pre-treated as above and then distilled in a Wrtz flask. The obtained distillate sample is designated in Table 8 as H.

(48) TABLE-US-00009 TABLE 8 Actual Control Detonation resistance value method Hexane G Research octane number (RON) 75.0 Express Motor octane number (MON) 74.8 method G. Sys. Research octane number (RON) 79.3 Motor octane number (MON) 77.8 Heptane H Research octane number (RON) 85.1 Motor octane number (MON) 81.5

(49) The following Table 9 summarises all the above results:

(50) TABLE-US-00010 TABLE 9 Cetane RON MON Number 1 Gasoline: distillation without the reactant-catalyst 41-56 43-58 distillation with the reactant-catalyst 93.9 85.4 2 Kerosene: distillation without the reactant-catalyst 30 40 distillation with the reactant-catalyst 94 85.3 52 3 Diesel fuel: distillation without the reactant-catalyst 45-55 distillation with the reactant-catalyst 47.7 4 n-Hexane: distillation without the reactant-catalyst 24-26 distillation with the reactant-catalyst 79.3 77.8 5 n-Heptane: distillation without the reactant-catalyst 0 distillation with the reactant-catalyst 85.1 81.5

(51) While certain features of the present application have been illustrated and described herein, many modifications, substitutions, changes, and equivalents will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. It is, therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit of the present application.